‘Times have changed.’

It was a slow morning. Anna swept the shop and polished the brass on the till, and rearranged the loaves and buns in the shop window twice to make them look more appealing, but still no one came in.

She stared at the window display. She was beginning to understand what Edward meant. She had imagined they might have a couple of loaves left over at the end of the day, two or three at most. It would be heartbreaking to have to throw away so much stale stock. No wonder he wanted to keep it to sell the next morning.

Finally, the shop bell clanged and a harassed-looking young woman came in, ushering three children before her. Anna recognised her right away as Mrs Burns, who lived round the corner in Gossett Street.

‘Good morning, Mrs Burns,’ she greeted her.

The woman looked up at Anna, her gaze narrowing.

‘’Morning,’ she mumbled a half-hearted greeting, then turned to Mrs Church. ‘I’ll just take half a loaf, please.’

Anna watched as Mrs Church carefully sliced off half a loaf and wrapped it in brown paper. While her children were all bundled up against the cold in thick coats and mufflers, Mrs Burns’ coat was thin and threadbare. Her ungloved hands were raw with cold as she counted coins out of her purse.

On impulse, Anna went to the counter and fetched three penny biscuits.

‘Here, these are for you.’ She went to offer them to the children but as they reached out Mrs Burns put out her hand to stop them.

‘No,’ she said. ‘We can’t afford them.’

Anna looked at the three forlorn little faces staring up at her, their eyes round. ‘But they’re a present.’

‘We don’t want your charity!’ Mrs Burns snapped.

She stared at Anna, fire in her eyes. Then she turned back to Mr Church and counted out the last of the coins.

‘There,’ she said. ‘That should be right.’

She snatched up the bread and stuffed it in her basket, then ushered the now tearful children out of the shop without another word.

‘Mrs Burns—’ Anna started to say but the door had already shut in her face, the sound of the bell drowning out her words.

Anna stared at the door. ‘I don’t understand … I was only trying to be nice.’

‘Take no notice, love,’ Mrs Church comforted her. ‘She’s had a tough time of it since her husband was killed. And then there was all the business about her credit being stopped.’

Anna turned to face her. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Oh, didn’t you know? Your husband’s told me I’m not to let anyone have anything on tick anymore.’

‘Since when?’

‘Since he took over this place. Caused a right ruckus, I can tell you. I had to go around asking everyone to settle up their accounts. ’Course, some of ’em just didn’t have the money to pay, like poor Mrs Burns. But he wouldn’t hear of it, said they had to pay up before they were allowed anything else.’ She cocked her head. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t know about it? I thought he would have talked to you first.’